The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Genesis
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Chapter 40
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Soon after this, it chanced that two of the king of Egypt’s courtiers, his cup-bearer and his pastrycook, fell into disgrace with their master.
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The one was chief of all his cup-bearers, the other of all his pastrycooks, and Pharao, angry with both of them,
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handed them over to the captain of the guard, to share Joseph’s prison.
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So the gaoler put them in Joseph’s charge, and he saw to their needs. They had not been long in captivity
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when, on a single night, either of them had a dream, portending what it portended to each.
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Joseph, when he visited them next morning, found both of them downcast,
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and enquired why they looked sadder than their wont.
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We have been dreaming, they said, and we can find no interpreter. Why, said Joseph, it is God who interprets our dreams for us; tell me what it was you saw.
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The chief cup-bearer related his dream first; I saw in front of me, he said, a vine,
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which had three shoots. First they budded, and then, when they had flowered, grapes grew upon them.
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I had Pharao’s cup in my hand; so I took the grapes and pressed them out into the cup I held, and gave Pharao the draught.
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This, answered Joseph, is what thy dream meant; the three shoots stand for three days which have yet to pass,
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after which Pharao will bethink himself that he has need of thee, and will restore thee to thy old office; then thou wilt hand the cup to him by right of thy office as thou ever didst.
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Pray do not forget me, in that day of thy prosperity; as thou lovest me, win from Pharao my release from this prison of ours.
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It was treachery brought me here, when I left the land of the Hebrews, and now I am in this dungeon for no fault of mine.
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Hereupon the chief cook, finding that Joseph could interpret the first dream so well, reminded them that he had dreamt too; I was carrying three baskets of loaves on my head, said he,
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and the top basket contained pastry of every kind; but the birds came and ate it.
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Thy dream, answered Joseph, means this; the three baskets stand for three days which have yet to pass,
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after which Pharao will take away thy life,✻ and so hang thee on a gibbet, for the birds to come and prey on thy flesh.
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The third day after was Pharao’s birthday, and he made a great feast for his servants. And as he sat feasting, he remembered the chief cup-bearer and the chief pastrycook.
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The one he restored to his office of putting the cup in his hand;
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the other he hung on a gallows, to prove the truth of the prophecy that had been made.
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But the chief cup-bearer, in his new good fortune, thought no more of the man who had interpreted his dream.
